La Mesa to treat e-cigarettes same as all tobacco products

LA MESA  La Mesa City Councilwoman Kristine Alessio inhaled vapor from an electronic cigarette and then lit up a regular cigarette and took a puff in City Council chambers Tuesday night to make a point about the differences in the two ways of smoking.

A longtime former smoker who quit six years ago, Alessio explained how "vaping" nicotine is better for the smoker, and less offensive to those around the smoker, than the kind with tobacco and nicotine that come in boxes and cartons and need a match or lighter to start.

She said she was concerned that regulating them was "government overreach" and rhetorically wondered if her heightened sensitivity to perfumes, which she said makes her want to throw up and gives her asthmatic reactions, was enough to warrant a ban on those.

Alessio didn't make any believers on the City Council, which voted 4-1 to agree with a city staff report that recommended that the council prohibit the use of electronic smoking devices in locations where smoking is banned.

Those places include restaurants, public walkways, playgrounds and parks, and businesses except where there is a designated smoking area.

Councilman Ernie Ewin had to leave council chambers and go outside to catch his breath after Alessio lit up her cigarette. He then sat down in the front row where City Council attendees watch the council, for several minutes until the air cleared.

"We cannot legislate common sense or morality," Mayor Art Madrid said. "We have to pass regulations to help people from doing damage to themselves -- 50,000 people a year die from smoking cigarettes. This was brought up by residents who own and operate this city and we have to listen to them."

Madrid in January had initially put an item on the agenda regarding e-cigarettes, looking to possibly ban their sale in the city. But the council elected not vote on the issue until a study by city staff could be shared.

At the January meeting, many users of e-cigarettes and those who sell the devices and hookah pens and pipes hailed them as a way to replace tobacco cigarettes. Others decried them as an unregulated, addictive device that is drawing in middle- and high-school students. E-cigarettes are sold at many convenience stores in close proximity to candy, gum and other snacks, and come in flavors ranging from bubble gum to watermelon.

In March, the council considered a request to amend the existing smoking ordinance to similarly prohibit electronic cigarettes in specified locations.

At Tuesday's meeting, only opponents of the devices were there, including Lorenzo Higley of Communities Against Substance Abuse, who shared the latest clinical findings on the dangers of e-cigarettes. Higley said there had been an uptick in people using the devices to ingest drugs, including marijuana and black tar heroin.

Assistant City Manager Yvonne Garrett shared her agenda report and noted that "according to the League of California Cities, over 140 cities have addressed the use of e-cigarettes in some form."

Garrett said that in San Diego County, eight cities (Carlsbad, Del Mar, El Cajon, Encinitas, Oceanside, Poway, Solana Beach and Vista) and the county have passed regulations on e-cigarettes. Five cities and the county have prohibited use of e-cigarettes where tobacco is prohibited; three cities, including neighboring El Cajon, have been more restrictive by added regulations regarding the sale of e-cigarettes.